Government in Maharashtra to change in 2019: BJP minister Girish Bapat

Senior BJP minister from Maharashtra Girish Bapat addressing farmers’ meet in Pune on January 6 said that the government in Maharashtra would change next year. He also said that people, who want to get any sort of work done from the BJP, should religiously follow up for the same.

According to a report in a leading newspaper, Bapat said, “Ek varshanantar sarkar badalnar aahe, kay ghyayache asel tar attach amchya pathi-magey laga (Whatever you want, ask for it now because the government is going to change next year). I won’t discuss what’s going to happen next at this meeting, but I know what’s going to happen.”

Sudhir Mungantiwar, Maharashtra’s finance minister, said, “I had a word with Bapat about what he said. He just wanted the work to get speedup. In fact, Amit Shah said the BJP would be in power for the coming 50 years.”

While it came as a shock for many of Bapat’s supporters, he was also congratulated on social media for his ‘bold’ statement. The Congress and NCP too lauded Bapat, who happens to be the cabinet minister for food and civil supplies, consumer protection, food and drug administration and parliamentary affairs in the Fadnavis led government. Bapat, who’s a six-time MLA from Pune, is also the guardian minister of Pune.

Prithviraj Chavan, senior Congress leader and former chief minister of Maharashtra, said, “I’ve interacted with quite many ministers of Maharashtra. Though privately, most ministers confess that they feel depressed, it’s Bapat who dared to speak in public. They are aware of the fact that the BJP would lose the 2019 elections in Maharashtra due to the government’s failure in creating new jobs. There’s a lot of growing unrest among people here.”

NCP leader Supriya Sule while speaking to a Marathi news channel, said, “I welcome Bapat’s statement. He is the only leader in the BJP who is aware of the ground reality.”